ALMA reveals thermal and non-thermal desorption of methanol ice in the HD 100546 protoplanetary disk

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Evans, Lucy, Booth, Alice S., Walsh, Catherine, Ilee, John D., Keyte, Luke, Law, Charles J., Leemker, Margot, Notsu, Shota, Öberg, Karin, Temmink, Milou, van der Marel, Nienke
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Evans, Lucy
Booth, Alice S.
Walsh, Catherine
Ilee, John D.
Keyte, Luke
Law, Charles J.
Leemker, Margot
Notsu, Shota
Öberg, Karin
Temmink, Milou
van der Marel, Nienke
author_facet Evans, Lucy
Booth, Alice S.
Walsh, Catherine
Ilee, John D.
Keyte, Luke
Law, Charles J.
Leemker, Margot
Notsu, Shota
Öberg, Karin
Temmink, Milou
van der Marel, Nienke
contents Methanol (CH$_3$OH) and formaldehyde (H$_2$CO) are chemically coupled organic molecules proposed to act as an intermediate step between simple molecules and more complex prebiotic compounds. Their abundance distributions across disks regulate the prebiotic potential of material at different disk radii. We present observations of multiple methanol and formaldehyde transitions toward the Herbig Ae disk HD 100546 obtained with ALMA, building upon the previous serendipitous detection of methanol in this source. We find that methanol has a higher rotational temperature ($T_\mathrm{rot}$) than formaldehyde towards both the centrally concentrated emission component in the inner disk ($0-110$ au) and a radially separate dust ring farther out in the disk ($180-260$ au). $T_\mathrm{rot}$ decreases for methanol and formaldehyde from the inner ($152^{+35}_{-27}$ K and $76^{+9}_{-8}$ K) to the outer disk ($52^{+8}_{-6}$ K and $31^{+2}_{-2}$ K), suggesting that we are tracing two different chemical environments. $T_\mathrm{rot}$ for both species in the inner disk is consistent with thermal desorption as the origin, while the outer disk reservoir is driven by non-thermal desorption. The CH$_3$OH/H$_2$CO column density ratio decreases from $14.6^{+5.2}_{-4.6}$ in the inner disk to $1.3^{+0.3}_{-0.2}$ in the outer disk, consistent with modelling predictions. The CH$_3$OH/H$_2$CO column density ratio for the inner disk is consistent with the median value in the range of column density ratios compiled from Solar System comets which would have formed at a similar distance. This supports the notion that interstellar ice is inherited and preserved by protoplanetary disks around solar-mass and intermediate-mass stars as we are seeing 'fresh' ice sublimation, as well as providing more evidence for the presence of prebiotic precursor molecules in planet-forming regions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_04957
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle ALMA reveals thermal and non-thermal desorption of methanol ice in the HD 100546 protoplanetary disk
Evans, Lucy
Booth, Alice S.
Walsh, Catherine
Ilee, John D.
Keyte, Luke
Law, Charles J.
Leemker, Margot
Notsu, Shota
Öberg, Karin
Temmink, Milou
van der Marel, Nienke
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Methanol (CH$_3$OH) and formaldehyde (H$_2$CO) are chemically coupled organic molecules proposed to act as an intermediate step between simple molecules and more complex prebiotic compounds. Their abundance distributions across disks regulate the prebiotic potential of material at different disk radii. We present observations of multiple methanol and formaldehyde transitions toward the Herbig Ae disk HD 100546 obtained with ALMA, building upon the previous serendipitous detection of methanol in this source. We find that methanol has a higher rotational temperature ($T_\mathrm{rot}$) than formaldehyde towards both the centrally concentrated emission component in the inner disk ($0-110$ au) and a radially separate dust ring farther out in the disk ($180-260$ au). $T_\mathrm{rot}$ decreases for methanol and formaldehyde from the inner ($152^{+35}_{-27}$ K and $76^{+9}_{-8}$ K) to the outer disk ($52^{+8}_{-6}$ K and $31^{+2}_{-2}$ K), suggesting that we are tracing two different chemical environments. $T_\mathrm{rot}$ for both species in the inner disk is consistent with thermal desorption as the origin, while the outer disk reservoir is driven by non-thermal desorption. The CH$_3$OH/H$_2$CO column density ratio decreases from $14.6^{+5.2}_{-4.6}$ in the inner disk to $1.3^{+0.3}_{-0.2}$ in the outer disk, consistent with modelling predictions. The CH$_3$OH/H$_2$CO column density ratio for the inner disk is consistent with the median value in the range of column density ratios compiled from Solar System comets which would have formed at a similar distance. This supports the notion that interstellar ice is inherited and preserved by protoplanetary disks around solar-mass and intermediate-mass stars as we are seeing 'fresh' ice sublimation, as well as providing more evidence for the presence of prebiotic precursor molecules in planet-forming regions.
title ALMA reveals thermal and non-thermal desorption of methanol ice in the HD 100546 protoplanetary disk
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.04957